This chart shows overall card fraud rates (in absolute $) as being essentially flat, albeit noisy, over the past several years: https://www.zdnet.com/article/id

This chart shows overall card fraud rates (in absolute $) as being essentially flat, albeit noisy, over the past several years: https://www.zdnet.com/article/identity-theft-credit-card-fraud-cost-us-consumers-16-billion-in-2016/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/identity-theft-credit-card-fra... If transaction rate is increasing, that means that fraud costs should actually be going down as a percentage of transaction income. And of course, Visa and MC control the technology. Their continued avoidance of major technical advances in the core card technology (things like one-time credit card numbers for online shopping) tends to undermine the "fraud is why we charge so much" theory. Also wouldn't hurt to look at the profit margin of Visa while you're at it, it's remarkable.